Venus, Saturn, Neptune

With the Moon gone, Venus is once again the brightest object in the evening sky, shining at magnitude -4.5.  It is now a fat crescent and will get slimmer as it approaches peak brightness in a couple weeks.  While setting behind the Bristol Head ridgeline, it is bright enough to illuminate the trees in front of it.

The following images were obtained with a Sightron infini D50 refractor and a 1.5x MDB (effective focal length 905 mm).

Venus setting behind Bristol Head

illuminated trees

crescent Venus, 1/1000 s, ISO 1600

 It is hard to get a sharp image of the planet with just a single exposure like this because of atmospheric effects, especially when it is so low in elevation.  The standard practice is to take tens, hundreds, or even thousands of images (in video format), then select and stack the sharpest fraction of video frames to produce a final image.  

  Astronomical twilight ends shortly after 9 pm (MDT) and the moonless sky is dark enough again to photograph constellations.  The following images were obtained with a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens.  Sky brightness was a modest 21.38 mpsas.

Cassiopeia and the Double Cluster (lower middle). Softon filter.

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33). Softon.

M31 (top) and M33 (bottom)

 The image above was obtained with no optical filter, but a low-pass digital filter (3x3 median) was applied in post-processing.  M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy, is the largest member of our Local Group of galaxies.  M33, the Triangulum Galaxy (also sometimes called the Pinwheel Galaxy), is the third largest member after our own Milky Way Galaxy.  It is about 2/3 the size of our galaxy.

M33 is right on the verge of naked-eye visibility from an exceptionally dark site with good eyes. At a distance of 2.9 million light-years (Mly), it is likely the farthest object that can be seen without optical aid.

 The planet Saturn is currently on the boundary line between the constellations Pisces and Cetus.  It is rising above the ridgeline of Snowshoe mountain in the late evening.

Saturn (LL), Neptune (circled) and the Circlet of Pisces (upper right)

 The Circlet of Pisces is an asterism formed by a ring of seven stars in the constellation Pisces.  The planet Neptune currently shines at magnitude 7.8.  This puts it within the range of binoculars when aided by a good star chart.

First look at the September Milky Way

 After a long string of cloudy or moonlit nights, there was finally a clear sky last night (01 Sep) with about 40 min of darkness between the end of astronomical twilight at 9:08 pm and the rise of the 19.9-day waning gibbous Moon.  The measured sky brightness was 21.4 mpsas, which is very good but not exceptional (for this area),

The following images were obtained with a Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4 lens and an OM-5ii camera.

 

Sparkle-6 filter

 

low-pass digital filter

The image above was obtained with no physical filter on the lens, but a digital low-pass filter (3x3 median) was applied in post-processing.  This suppresses the myriad faint stars and lets the dark dust clouds of the Milky Way stand out more clearly.

 

Arcturus in the airglow above Bristol Head. Softon filter

View to the north: Big Dipper and Little Dipper.  Softon filter

More Sturgeon Moon

 A few more pictures from the mostly-clouded-out lunar eclipse on Thursday.  

I just discovered that Blogger has somehow changed the way files are stored, so downloading images with the original filename and size no longer works.  This seems to affect anything posted after 31 July.  So this post is an experiment, linking images to Google Photos instead of direct uploads. Sigh.

 

It seems to work, but what an ugly process

Sturgeon Moon eclipse

 The full Sturgeon Moon was already in eclipse as it rose above the ridgeline of Snowshoe Mountain on Thursday evening.  Unfortunately, clouds obscured most of the event, leaving us with only glimpses as the Earth's shadow progressively covered the Moon.

The following images were obtained with an Apertura 60mmED f/6 refractor.

 

The curve of Earth's shadow is clearly visible on the rising Moon

through thin clouds

last view

Near maximum eclipse it was dark enough to see the Milky Way, clouds permitting.

Panasonic Leica 9mm f/1.7

Anticipating the lunar eclipse

The full Sturgeon Moon occurs on Thursday evening and undergoes a nearly-total eclipse.  These images were obtained in the days leading up with a Sightron infini D50 telescope and a Brandon 1.5x MDB (effective focal length = 902 mm, more or less).

21 August (Friday)

 

25 August (Tuesday)

The Milky Way and colorful night skies

 The clouds were mostly gone near midnight on Saturday and Sunday (15-16 Aug).  Sky brightness on Saturday was 21.38 mpsas and Sunday yielded 21.3.  Dark enough, but not fantastic.  The likely culprit is airglow, which adds some colorful layers to constellations photographed near the horizon.

Saturday

 The picture above was obtained with a 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fisheye lens.  The silhouette of Snowshoe mountain is on the left, Bristol Head is on the right.  The field of view extends beyond the zenith into the northern constellation of Cepheus.

Also Saturday, different lens

 This image was obtained with a Laowa 7.5mm f/2 lens.  This is a rectilinear lens, not a fisheye, and consequently has a smaller field of view even though the focal lengths of the two lenses are nominally the same.

On Sunday night an OM 20mm f/1.4 lens with a Hoya Softon filter was used to obtain some constellation photos.

Cassiopeia (left) and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) right of center.

 

The Andromeda Galaxy (left of center) and the Great Square of Pegasus (right)

The Big Dipper resting on the Bristol Head ridgeline

Corona Borealis over Bristol Head

Sagittarius and the Milky Way core

All of these photos were obtained with the camera mounted on a Move Shoot Move Nomad star tracker with exposures of 60 s. 

The weather did not cooperate

"You can't always get what you want"

-- The Rolling Stones (1969) 

The Perseid Meteors peak on the evening of Aug 12-13.  This year that coincided with a new moon, which is a perfect combination for dark-sky viewing.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.  I  was outside at 2:30 am on Aug 13, staring up into a hole in the clouds for about five minutes, and saw nothing.   Later that evening there was some open sky, so I set up a camera with a fisheye lens.  Polaris was hidden behind a large cloud, so I gave up on getting the star tracker polar aligned and just let the camera record star trails.  The result is shown below.  Unfortunately, not a single Perseid was captured.  Clouds floated through the view during this 43-min exposure, which created breaks in the star trails.  

Camera and lens: OM-5ii + 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fisheye.